How Organizations Can Maximize Their Microsoft 365 Security

With the ‘end of life’ for Windows 7 and Office 2010 extended support approaching, more organizations are beginning to make the shift to Microsoft 365 – an all-encompassing set of solutions that include the applications of Office 365, Windows 10, and Enterprise Mobility and Security. There are many benefits to be gained from making this move, including improved productivity, efficiency, and employee collaboration.

However, as with any technology change, organizations need to carefully consider the impact this could have on security. Considering that last year, 43 percent of businesses reported breaches or attacks, the importance of securing the Microsoft 365 environments – to protect the confidentiality of intellectual, customer, and personal information – has never been a higher priority.

Security: a Problem Shared

In order to fully secure their Microsoft 365 environment, organizations must see security as a shared responsibility between Microsoft and themselves. Microsoft 365 comes with many in-built security services and controls, which helps organizations to effectively secure users, devices, applications and data, while still providing the best user experience. But customers must remember that they have their own security responsibilities, which include assessing their overall security posture and securing their own endpoints; data classification and accountability; putting identity and assessment management protocols in place.

This means CIOs must ask questions like: how secure is our data in Microsoft 365? Who has access, both internally and externally, to the network and to which applications? What if unauthorized users compromise account credentials? How can we detect ransomware and malware? What do we need to do to maintain compliance and data privacy policies? In order to answer these questions, organizations should carry out their own assessment of how the applications they are using as part of Microsoft 365 are set up; to do this, SoftwareONE has created the Office 365 security assessment.

By conducting an Office 365 assessment on their applications, organizations will be able to:

Gain an understanding of their individual security objectives and requirements

Receive guidance, recommendations and best practices on Office 365 implementation

Once organizations have carried out an assessment and taken remedial action to address any gaps, the next step to maximizing overarching Microsoft 365 security is ongoing monitoring of the entire environment. This can be achieved through solutions such as SoftwareONE’s Unified Cloud Management (UCM) for 365. Delivered as a managed service, UCM for 365 helps to maintain good security through to managing role-based access control, and aligning the configuration of Microsoft 365 in line with company security and company guidelines.

To ensure you are doing everything to secure your Microsoft 365, see here for more details